Does land of 'ahimsa' need a vegetarian day?

Paul McCartney, former Beatle, has asked India to declare January 12 as Vegetarian Day in India. It was the day PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), a group better known for getting attractive people to pose with little or no clothes for animal rights (how fewer clothes mean more rights remains a mystery) was founded in India. McCartney has spoken about India’s ahimsa while urging for a vegetarian day.

But while India is famous for its, ahem, ahimsa, it is also well known for its chicken tikka and mutton biryani, and shorshe ilish.

A false notion worldwide is that most Indians are vegetarians, a belief strengthened by the staunchly vegetarian Mahatma Gandhi.

A country that decades ago believed that the only reason the Englishman ruled us was because he was a meat-eater might not be too ready yet to give up flesh on the table.

Also, do these ‘special days’ actually work? India has a Diabetes Day, and at last count, the number of diabetic patients had gone up, not down. A vegetarian day might just see more kababs on the table rather than less.